The Russian Federation called on Africa to switch to alternative mechanisms for transferring financial information.
Russia is calling on Africa to switch to alternative mechanisms for transferring payment information, including the Bank of Russia's financial messaging system, as well as mutual opening of bank branches, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "It is important to continue to build stable channels for mutual arrangements of national currencies, to expand the network of correspondent relations between Russian and African banks, to promote the mutual opening of their branches and to switch to alternative mechanisms for transmitting payment information, including the use of the Financial Message Transmission System Bank of Russia and the pan-African payment system operating in African countries and the African Union, said the Russia Forum." "This will significantly reduce transaction costs and protect payments from political interference by "unfriendly" countries.